Weekend This n’ That: Lilly’s Status, Bench, Nady, and More

The Cubs are getting ready for their first cactus league game this week, as they host the Oakland Athletics on Thursday. So with that being said, here is the latest from camp.

Ted Lilly is likely going to be placed on the DL by opening day, and it is expected that he is going to miss the first month of games. It’s more so a precautionary measure over anything, as the the Cubs do not want to rush him back. This now opens up the two spots in the Cubs rotation, and the competition for those spots will be between Jeff Samardzija, Carlos Silva, Tom Gorzelanny, and Sean Marshall

Lou Piniella also talked about his bench today, saying that if the Cubs stay healthy they are going to have two open spots on the bench. The locks on the bench are backup catcher Koyie Hill, fourth outfielder Xavier Nady, and whoever is not starting between Jeff Baker and Mike Fontenot. Leaving the final two spots to be filled by two of the following, Andres Blanco, Tyler Colvin, Sam Fuld, Micah Hoffpauir, Kevin Millar, Chad Tracy, or Brad Snyder.

Speaking about Xavier Nady, it is not a certainty that he is going to be ready by opening day.  He is in the process of working on his throwing mechanics with Larry Rothschild, and it appears that if he suffers no setbacks he should be good to go by opening day.

Derrek Lee claimed that any comparison of Marlon Byrd to Milton Bradley is “ridiculous .” Lee is referring to the many reports that suggest that Byrd is the replacement for Milton Bradley. As Lee noted Byrd is a just about the polar opposite of Bradley, mainly because he is a fan favorite and good teammate.

The Chicago media needs to stop talking about Milton Bradley. They talk about him so much that you would think he is still with the team. We all know that the Milton Bradley situation was a disastrous, but the Cubs have moved on from it and it is time that the media does the same.

Carlos Marmol gave Starlin Castro the big league treatment today. As while Castro was taking live batting practice against Marmol, Marmol plunked him on the back, and brushed Castro back off the plate. But Castro stood his ground, and gave another impressive performance of good swings against the Cubs “front-line” pitchers.